Page 31 of The Sicilian Bastard
Araceli
The quiet woke me. I stretched and my hand collided with cool sheets. Luciano was long gone. I sat up, ready to get dressed and start the day when it hit me. I had nothing to do. I was stuck in this room for the foreseeable future. A wave of emptiness hit me. If I could turn back time, I would. I wished it were me. Ruby. She was my only family. Gone. I didn't even get the chance to give her a burial. I could ask Luciano if he would help with that.
I blinked in surprise at the huge television my sleepy eyes failed to see when they first opened. I looked around and saw the remote on the nightstand. As I went to reach for it, the quiet snick of the door registered. I swung my feet off the bed to greet Luciano and my gaze collided with the icy blue eyes of someone else. A petite blonde woman stood in the doorway, twisting the ends of her hair. I dove for the pen and notepad and started scribbling.Who the fuck are you?
I tossed the book at her. It bounced off her chest and hit the floor. She looked uncomfortable but kept staring at me.
"Who are you?" she squeaked out.
I looked down at the notepad and then back up at her three times before she realized I wasn't going to open my mouth.
She bent down and retrieved the book. Her brow furrowed as she looked at my jaw. "I'm Rosalina Pi-Falcone. Why aren't you speaking?" She handed the notepad back to me.
I held back a sigh of annoyance. I was so sick of having to explain this to strangers.I dislocated my jaw.
She looked down and then back at me. "You did?" She didn't look convinced.
I could feel a trail of fire from the tic in my jaw. I was very irritated.That's none of your business.
She clucked and folded her arms over her chest. I couldn't understand why she gave a fuck. She didn't know me at all. She should be more concerned about Luciano. He was her family.
"You don't have to stay. We can protect you from that monster."
My head reared back as if she had hit me across the face, and I saw red. One minute, I was standing in front of her. The next, I was on top of her. I had her by the throat. My nails dug in and I bared my teeth to her. She was flat on her back with the wind knocked out of her. But if I thought she would let me attack her without fighting back, I was dead wrong. The bitch thrust her hips forward as hard as she could, bucking me off her body. Then she was on top and I was below.
"What is your malfunction, bitch?" she screamed in my face.
I ignored the pain in my jaw and snapped my head forward, butting into her forehead, splitting it open. Her blood dripped down my face. I flung my head back and forth, flinging her taint everywhere. Guards rushed in and pulled Rosalina off me, but I wasn't through. All the rage, all the pain I felt in the last few weeks boiled over. I let out a guttural scream and reached for her again. My hands fisted into her short hair and I dragged her past the guards into the hallway. I ran as hard as I could with another human being weighing me down. She dug her heels into the carpeting. When that failed to work, she went kicking and screaming the rest of the way. I couldn't take her screeching any longer and hoisted her onto the banister. The panicked look in her eyes brought me immense satisfaction.
"He. Is. Not. A. Monster.Puta," I growled through gritted teeth.
My throat was raw from the sounds scratching it up, my jaw on fire from all the jostling that we did. The guards were in the hallway pointing their guns at me.
"I get it. Put me down. They won't let you kill me," Rosalina choked out.
I want her to hurt as much as Luciano. As much as me. That was all. She needed to feel his pain. He was fucked up because they allowed him to be. Why couldn't they see that treating him as if he were some feral dog made him even worse off? I couldn't even lecture her properly. A scream welled up in me. I wanted to rip her face off. I should let her fall to her death.
"Respect. Him," I gasped out, my jaw throbbing from use.
I welcomed the pain. If that was from defending my man, then so be it. My man. Shit. I had grown attached. But he needed someone in his corner. So far, these people weren't it.
"Okay, I will. Cool?" She took her hands off the banister in a trusting move.
The way I was feeling, I wouldn't be so trustworthy if I were her. I nodded my head in agreement and brought her forward until her feet were touching the floor.
"Fuck, you're as psycho as he is," she muttered.
If she had only kept her fucking mouth shut, we could've avoided everything that happened next. I decked her. The crunch of my fist crushing her nose made me feel ten feet tall. As she crumbled to the floor, I was grabbed by two of the guards. I hadn't realized they were so close. At the same time, Luciano, Agosto, and another man arrived from the other end of the hallway.
"What the fuck is going on here?" a familiar snarl brought me out of my haze.
Luciano and Agosto were staring at me while the other man was looking at Rosalina who was out cold.
"Boss. The two started fighting. Rosalina was on her when we entered the room, but she got the upper hand," a guard spoke up quick as lightning. He directed the information to Agosto. Hmm. This new man wasn't in charge. I wondered what his connection was.
"What the fuck did you do, bitch?" the nameless man barked at me.
I didn't jump off the handle with him. He was somewhat important. I wouldn't disrespect Luciano in front of anyone until I knew their role better. The guy stalked towards me. With no warning, he clocked me right in the jaw. My head snapped back from the impact and my eyes went wonky. For a second, I worried I was blind. I blinked fast until the scene in front of me became clear. Luciano had the man who hit me face down on the ground with his gun shoved into his temple. He wasn't looking at the man. He was looking at me. His intense dark gaze gave me tingles in places I shouldn't have been tingling in.
